Daughters and their Fathers

My friend from Oregon left this on her Wall.

I had two friends who told me long ago how important their fathers were to them. When Zoe Tay intimated publicly that the closest man to her will always be her late father and he was irreplaceable, that was an unforgettable confession for people like me. She had in a local way done for fathering what Angelina Jolie had recently achieved for breast cancer awareness but Zoe Tay failed to go as far as Jolie. Perhaps she couldn't.

The trouble with these good fathers is they often made one very huge mistake. They fail to prepare their daughters for life after they are gone. I think this is the most difficult task of fatherhood and without the Gospel it would be almost impossible. For within the great goodness hides sinister evil. If only these dead fathers could know the terrible torment they left on their daughters.

It is impossible to be good except through Grace.

Teach them to SUCCESSFULLY say good bye to you while you are still living.

If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it is yours to keep. But if it never returned, it was never yours before.

This is the secret of saying good bye. Its fuller version is Jesus story of the Prodigal Son.

Shanumgam visits FW dorm

K. Shanmugam visited a foreign workers dorm in Yishun tonight and spoke to about 250 of them. This is not only good but extraordinary. Something like this would never happen in Dubai. You make trouble there they just punish and deport you and I have seen them poorly treated. They also often looked cowed.

I used to see them up close at the driving center and on Fridays. Generally they were very nice people. A whole bunch of then were congratulating me when I passed the stupid driving test because the Abu Dhabi authorities refused to recognize our driver's license.

Update: 9:25 am

I think this article missed the point entirely. If it is right, why not go the whole hog and make all of them citizens?

Update: 10:20 am

Just read this excellent post by Bertha Henson on BN Facebook page...and in a dorm away from Little India.

Only desperate people riot and most of them are not. However I believe some are and there are enough of them even if they are small compared to the 300,000 here to cause us to learn about and act.

Four New Thermos Mugs

I haven't been very successful with getting a thermos mug that could last. The one I am using is only about six months old but already rusting in the bottom.

I often could get such mugs from Takashimaya which we rarely go these days. I think the last time we were there was almost a year ago.

Bought these four at two for $35 at Takashimaya tonight.

Waiting for Kobo Glo case

Still waiting for the cases I bought off eBay to arrive before we can properly use them with confidence.

We have one white and two black ones. Each cost us only about S$100 because we got it in Japan! With this I can fill the micro SD card with books which I will never be able to finish reading. If I had to pay the usual prices, I would never pay up. I already own a Kindle Paperwhite although I wished Amazon would have installed it with as much memory as the Japanese version which is conveniently out of stock when we were there.

What an irony. I would always hunt for bargains but when come to giving it is the opposite. The worry with giving is that it goes to the wrong purpose. It used to be much easier. How life has changed.

Cute Salvation Army Calendar

Received this very cute calendar from the Salvation Army last night. This must be the loveliest calendar they had ever given in the last twenty odd years I think. I think we made a five figure donation long ago which I always tend to remember as four figure and wonder to wifey why were they always inviting us to events which we never show up. Today, when we are unsure who to give to, it is to the Salvation Army that we direct our funds.

These days we prefer to give to those who were missed or ignored and so have real money problems. There is so much money floating around this country and especially the large charities, they have no problem raising funds. Of course they tell you this isn't true but I don't believe them.

These days there are also many scams but my exposure to these are limited to $10. But my track record here has been very bad and it has gone down to $0. I believe these miscreants make a very good living because there are too many generous and unwitting givers.

Yaacob on Network Resilience

Yaacob is completely correct to say that you cannot give 100 per cent assurance that nothing else will happen to disrupt our network but he was completely off the mark if this is a response to the M1 71-hour network failure and the Singtel Bukit Panjang fire.

He gets away this time in 2013. I am not sure he will be so lucky if you add five more years. By then lots more consumers will be more sophisticated and understand that the reasons for M1 and Singtel failures were completely unreasonable.

I would loved to see him dropped as a minister in the next round. This guy is ineffective to the point that it is worth trying out a younger Malay MP taking over.

ST has done you a disservice quoting you this way. Aren't you the minister in charge of such matters? Even they are careless and have no respect for you. You get more from Breakfast Network and the others. If this isn't stupid, I don't know what is.

The Riot: What the global biz elite see

Nothing new here for locals like us but you can to learn what the global business elites is seeing. When it happened the Home Team officers dealt with it successfully. Post event our investment promotion and diplomats will have their hands full explaining this to others. Damn it, we depend on the outside world for a living.

Don't you think the PM should fix this definitively and quickly or he should resign? Thus far the wisest remarks from Cabinet had come from his two deputies but he would be remembered for wanting to punish the rioters to as far as the law permit. That is the sort of feeling only the man in the street is entitled but not encouraged.. Leaders should be thinking of how to solve the problem instead of exacting retribution. Do you think they come here with the intention to cause trouble? There was premeditation? More like dry tinder found a spark to start a fire isn't it? Who were responsible for gathering the tinder in the first place? PM was right to order a COI convened asap. I am waiting to see if the COI would get to the bottom of this.



Update: 7:15pm

And I hope the global community would see this too, but I know it is far less likely. Here is Yahoo interview of South Asian workers reaction to the Little India riot.



Update: 8pm

Sun TV a major media player in South India had this completely off the mark report in their news. It is natural for the unprofessional and poorly trained to simply just bend the facts to suit their bias or prejudice. Fine if this helpes to dissuade more of them from coming here. Time we look elsewhere. We have too many of them from the same place already. It is risky for us and dumb as many of us have told the government for a long time.


Update: 10:45pm

Of course easy and only right to send that letter but I am not holding out for much as the boss of Sun TV Kalanithi Maran is very politically connected. His station had probably done this on purpose because it serves his interests, fits his worldview. It didn't occur to them how absurd the whole piece was? Whatever, we shall see.

Update: Dec 11, 3:55pm

Just as I thought it, Sun TV insisted their version is the correct one. Let this be an eye opening experience for Singaporeans. Good to learn how the world outside is often so different from sanitized and regulated Singapore. My children are going to ask me how could I have guessed.

Update: Dec 11, 8:10pm

Excellent we do have leverage after all. What an irresponsible TV station. Even common sense would have informed them that their story was never credible. The events and pieces wouldn't have fitted. What an insult to their viewers.

To show our displeasure, we don't even accord them the courtesy of redacting his email contact. I bet he is going to get some pretty nasty mails from the folks here but I wouldn't be participating.

Update: Dec 11, 9:15pm

A mostly fair report by the venerable Economist on the riot. Huge damage to us. If LKY were still in charge and his son is in charge of this, I guessed he would be forced to sack him. Of course like I mentioned earlier under the old man something like this happening is practically impossible. It is simply just too damaging.

The government is lucky these foreign workers aren't organized or they will be discussing onerous terms with us.

This is what safe pairs of hands in Cabinet looks like.